This Ain't No Disco: New Wave Album Covers

By Jennifer McKnight-Trontz and McKnight-Trontz

Why did Frankie say "Relax"? Did anyone really want to hurt Boy George? And why didn't anybody walk in L.A.? This Ain't No Disco can't answer all these head-scratchers, but it does bring the New Wave era back with page after totally awesome page of 300 of the best album covers. This rad collection includes covers from the late 1970s to the mid-'80s and will have true believers of a certain generation totally spazzing. New Wave was defined as much by style, fashion, and graphic design as the music itselfwitness the ruffled cuffs and heavy makeup of the New Romantics, the skinny ties and peg-pants of the neo-Mods, and the unsettling robotic personae of Devo and Gary Numan. Bursting with wild hairstyles, futuristic typography, pastel shapes, and outlandish clothing, these are the album covers that defined an era and continue to influence music and fashion styles today. A nostalgic trek with a mental soundtrack, This Ain't No Disco will inspire readers to don those rubber bracelets once again and proclaim, "Let's dance this mess around "

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0811845427
• ISBN13: 9780811845427
• Release Date: March 2005
• Publisher: Chronicle Books
• Length: 255 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 1.0" x 1.0"
• Age Range: 13 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 8 to Postsecondary

Customer Reviews

A Great Visual Resource

This is the sort of book I could have cranked out in my sleep. As a graphic designer who collects this period, my knowledge of the field would no doubt eclipse the authors. The scant copy would have been better written, researched and more substantial. But there would have been no surprises in it for me. As such, I appreciate the effort to have done it by Ms. McKnight-Trontz. The formatting of the tome is good with thick, coated paper and a substantial number of pages. Repro is acceptable, but I don't know why for the life of me, that album covers are usually photographed, and not scanned, for this sort of project. The copy stand approach has serious pitfalls. There is no contest between a scanned and photographed sleeve for sharpness and fidelity. The best thing about this book, beyond the large number of entries, is the thematic organization of the work. The visual tropes inherent in the covers are grouped together, making a nice, logical flow of design images that crosses music genres and styles with no regard for the musical component of the package. Yes, I would have done it better, but with this tome so heavily remaindered, just be glad that someone did it first, since there probably won't be a volume 2 any time soon.

Bitter Suite

This is a great little time capsule of 80s album graphics from the sublime to the silly. I was happy to see my illustration for Yello's "Claro Que Si" included but dismayed that the book's credit line reads "artist unknown" when my signature is clearly visible.

Guiltless Nostalgia

Just in time for designers looking for research material on the 80's and a good coffeetable book for serious vinyl collectors. Comprehensive reproductions of album covers that were the vanguard of the new wave style. Also for those, like me, who think MTV misrepresents the 80's. This book is proof that our teenage past was full of innovation and shocking imagery. Proof that there was something before rave culture. Had a blast going over the book with others in their late 30's.

great book

Great format -good quality - rare covers in this book of new wave period - nice layout, rigorous curation , bravo , love it. Found myself trying to buy these records again but on cd! I wish there was a 70's version too.